Night Time Excursions - TMNT 2007
by the Mirage Prismatic
Summary: It's been a year since Leo left for training and he's suppose to be back by now. Raphael can't stand the close quarters of the Lair anymore and goes topside to clear his head, reminiscing as he catches a train rooftop on the way to distant Coney Island. Raphael & OC - Friendship
1. Excursion

I decided to revisit this story and tell how Raph met Desoona in the first place.

Posted: April 5th, 2013

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><p>Raphael - Night Time Excursions<p>

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><p>Raphael spent the most time aboveground. He was the one who had started the excursions in the first place around the time they hit teen-hood and it really hit him that they were only ones of their kind. Period. Yeah, he didn't like that.<p>

Sure, they had been up top before but that was strictly for business - foraging. Raph's the one who started exploring the city and the other's had followed. He remained the turtle who knew and understood the city the best, he's the one who continued his trips to the surface after they had retreated from those exciting chapters of their lives.

Raph needed to get _out_ before the little brothers drove him insane - there was nothing to do anymore since Leo had left for South America for his training. They weren't the only non-humans in the world - just the only turtles in the world. He'd been spending more and more time topside. Tonight, he had escaped their home for the cool fresh air of topside shortly after sundown so he had time to burn.

So, he headed for Coney Island. True, it was far away but when he emerged from the underground roads, he hitched a ride on the top of a train wearing a cloak he bundled into his small travel pack so he wouldn't attract the attention of a passing helicopter. When they were younger and all four of them were a little more wild, they had gone to Coney Island a few times at night and made a game of staying out of the spotlight of police helicopters, snickering from the sides of the train.

Leo had put an end to those after they were nearly shot but for once Raph hadn't argued. It had gotten boring after awhile.

Raphael felt at peace clinging to the top of the train, letting the night breeze cool him off. He kept an eye out for helicopters and made sure to move when needed but mostly it left to him his own thoughts.

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><p>It was summer but Coney Island was having some repairs. The open hours were reduced to give the crew some time to work on the repairs. Raph really didn't understand it. He had been under the impression that construction crews worked during the day. But hey, he wasn't the one running things and besides, why should he complain? That meant more free time for him.<p>

Raphael hopped over the locked gates of the park with practiced ease and glanced around, ghosting pass locked down stalls and dark rides, heading for the seashore when the sound of human voices caught his attention.

He ducked behind the nearest structure, listening carefully as mocking laughter sounded and loud yells. He climbed ontop of the stall to get a better look.

A moment later, a girl came running out of the shadows and tripped over her own feet, landing hard on the ground as a trio of bat-wielding thugs rushed at her. She rolled over onto her back and used her feet to knock the thin thug over but she had to scramble back on her hands to get away from the other two.

"Come on, girlie, don't you wanna play?" the tallest thug said, walking casually, towards her, swinging his bat. "We don't bite,"

"But you hit,"

Raphael narrowed his eyes.

The third thug stood up and joined his 'friends' as the girl bumped into a booth that halted her escape.

The ninja turtle dropped down in front of her suddenly, blocking the downward swing of the tallest thug's bat with his forearm. He ignored their widening eyes and swung a quick snap-kick into the tallest thug's gut, sending him flying backwards into the pavement.

"Wha - what are you?!" the round thug - the last thug - demanded, pointing his metal bat at Raphael as his companion backward.

Raph grinned savagely, taking out one sai and spinning it. The thugs' eyes darted between the sai, Raph and the girl - they both looked at each other, dropped their bats, grabbed their groaning companion and ran..

Raph put his sai back in his belt, took a deep breath and turned to face the girl who was staring at him with huge eyes, her lips parted in shock.

He took a moment to get a good look at her - she had dark curly hair tied into a ponytail at the base of her neck, tendrils escaping and wisping around her light copper toned face and highlighting her light brown eyes. She wore a short-sleeved white-striped black tee-shirt with jeans and scuffed-up sneakers and gloves with the fingers cut off.

"You okay?" she nodded and let him help her to her feet.

He took several steps back from her as she brushed herself off and then, instead of running, she looked at him and said: "Teach me how to do that?"

Raph paused, blinked and stared. "You're taking dis pretty well,"

"Oh, don't worry - I was freaking out. To myself. I decided freaking out publicly would be rude." Raph raised an eyeridge. She had some interesting thoughts. "What are you, exactly? A ... turtle...human?"

"Nope. Jus' a giant mutated turtle. What are yeh doin' out 'ere, anyway? The park's closed."

"I forgot my backpack." Raph rolled his eyes. "It's really important! And I live all the way in Manhattan - I can't take the extra time during the week to make an epic journey just to get it!"

"Relax, relax. I'll help you find it."

"Really? Thanks! My name's Desoona by the way,"

"Raph,"

"Is that short for something? Raphael?"

"Yeah."

"Cool." she dug in her pocket and pulled out a mini-flashlight, then looked at it. "This is how they spotted me the first time,"

"Don't worry - if they come back, I'll scare 'em off. Let's find your backpack,"

Reassured, Desoona turned on the flashlight.

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><p>They found her backpack in the Lost &amp; Found of the Ferris Wheel control stand and Raph directed the human girl out of the park after quickly slipping into pants and a large hoodie to hide his face.<p>

"What would your parents say - you running around this late?"

She frowned at him. "I'm 22!"

"You don't look a day over 16," Raph said in disbelief and she just smiled.

"Then I age well," she said, heading for the train station. Raph looked over his shoulder towards the beach, shook his head and followed her.

"You never did answer my question," Desoona said as Raph kept an eye out for would-be muggers. He was actually kinda hoping they'd pop out - he needed some excitement.

"What?"

"Can you teach me to do that?"

"Scare off thugs?"

"Fight properly. Well, I took some martial arts classes in college but I don't have the discipline to keep up my training on my own."

She noticed that Raph was silent and looked at him,noticed that he was staring her from under his hood.

"You're takin' dis a little too well,"

"Would you rather I go screaming into the night?"

No, no he wouldn't. Raph looked down the quiet street and considered her question. He could use some time away from the others...and it was better than sitting around the lair, doing nothing. And Donnie kept grousing at him for not getting a job anyway.

"Sure," he said after such a long silence that she jumped. "I'll teach you,"

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><p>I was considering some other TMNT fanfictions and decided to expand on this.<p> 


	2. Midnight Visit

_This story is set in the movie-verse of TMNT(2007) the day after Leo's Return and before the four brothers encounter the first monster fighting the Foot Clan._

_Features an OC. My first posted TMNT fanfic. One shot. Posted at a horrendous 1:50 AM, U.S. East Daylight Time. _

_Main Character: Rapheal/OC_  
><em>Genre: Friendship<em>

_April and Casey's Neighborhood: Midnight_

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><p><strong>Midnight Visit<strong>

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><p>The night skylines of New York City were cloaked in shadows. The honest-living human inhabitants of the city kept to the brightly lit sidewalks of their double-sided town, well aware of the dangers of their fair city despite their own peaceful lives. Rapheal <em>lived<em> for those dangers and he took in the lights of the city before turning to the darkened rooftops.

It wasn't something Leo would approve of. It wasn't safe, it wasn't within their boundaries. But that was to be expected. Raph loved to break those boundaries. He shouldn't be here. But how could he resist? A night away from the usual group was in order. He just wanted a break was that really so much to ask for? And Leo had _no__authority_ over him—especially since he had been away for so long.

This neighborhood was familiar to him; he been here time after time to visit April—and then Casey, too, when he moved in.

A building a story higher than the one he was on? Easy with a running start and leaping springs.

A gap between the structures? Easy again.

Lights on in the neighbor's apartment. Smoke pellets and shadows were a ninja (turtle)'s best friend. The fire escape? Are you kidding?

He slid down the railing with ease, ducking out of the light as he rapped on the window. Beyond the semi-sheer curtains he could see a the shadow of a slim figure dancing around the kitchen to blaring music and he held back a chuckle as he rapped louder. The girl paused and glanced around in confusion before spotting Rapheal on the fire escape and she gasped aloud in horror, a fierce blush spreading across her face as she moved to open the window.

"Nice dancing." he quipped, ducking through the widened aperture.

"Shuddaup. I don't usually have an audience." The girl wasn't a displaced goddess nor was she a lost supermodel. She was an average little thing with a slim body and darkened golden-brown skin with her brown hair covered by a red headscarf wearing an orange sundress.

"I can tell." he grinned, ducking her violent swing. He jumped over the kitchen counter into her lounge room glancing around the cluttered lounge area. It had the same layout as Casey and April's place but the kitchen was directly in front of the lounge area and off to the left of the kitchen was a hallway. Directly to the north was the dining room.

The couch was in the center of the room with the TV against the wall in front of it, visible from the hallway. There were bookshelves overflowed with new, semi-old and worn and battered paperbacks, the occasional hardcover stuck here and there. Papers were in untidy piles, some shoved loosely in folders and clothes were piled on a chair in the corner of the staircase that was to the far left of the room

"Got anything to eat?"

"What am I your personal diner?" she grumbled humorously as she trotted to the attached kitchen just a few feet away from the TV. "What do turtles eat? Lettuce?" She knew perfectly well he did not eat _lettuce_ as a staple food but that didn't stop her from making jokes about it.

"Give me a salad and I'll eat you instead," Raph growled. She just laughed.

"So what brings you here so late, Nightowl?" she teased, loading her arms with various foods and bumping the fridge door closed with her hip.

"Want some help?" Raph asked as she dumped everything on the counter.

"Nah, I got it." Desoona assured him. "So what brings you here?"

Raph sighed as he flopped on the couch, stretching out his arms and staring up at the ceiling. "Leo,"

"What 'bout him? Wasn't he away training?"

"His training finished a year ago. And he's back,"

And a year ago had been when he rescued this silly girl from the dangers of a dark Coney Island after she'd been caught there after hours looking for something she had lost. He couldn't really pin-point when they had become friends. It could have been when he went from 'mysterious shadowy rescuer' to 'mutant turtle rescuer' and the first thing out of her mouth was; 'Could you teach me how to do that?' after she had been cornered by bat-wielding thugs just minutes before and they had gone screaming into the night at the sight of Rapheal (who had not had his Nightwatcher gear at the time). No screams, maybe a little staring on her part. _He'd_ stared, nodded a slow affirmative (but he didn't know why) asked her why she was wandering around a dark Coney Island and help her find her backpack.

"Why would he be back now when he finished training a year ago?" she asked now, shaking Raph out of his thoughts.

"When I become a telepath, Desoona, I'll let you know."

"And you didn't ask,"

"Let's say it's a sore topic," Raph muttered, snagging an apple from the fruit bowl on the couch-side table.

"Shouldn't you be happy?" she asked as she cursed and went rummaging and clattering around her cabinets for dishes and a book.

"Happy? Why? So I can become one of his little soliders who just fall in line without question the instant our 'fearless leader' returns? !"

"I was talking more about getting your brother back." she said.

"Oh." Raph grumbled.

"You like adobo seasoned turkey?"

"Sure," Raph sighed, collapsing on her couch, despite the clutter of clothes on it. "Don't you ever clean in here?"

"Who has time for cleaning?" she scoffed. She darted around the kitchen counter, scooping the clothes pile from under his feet and scooting over to the hamper located by the staircase leading to her loft. She dumped the clothes into the hamper and rescued a lone notebook from the bottom step, dropping it on the table en route to the kitchen and her chicken.

"I need to write! But I do need to pop by the laundromat..."

Raph sighed and covered his eyes in mock horror.

"Anyway, Raph, shouldn't you be happy?" she continued as she seasoned the raw meat.

Raph frowned. "I guess,"

"But you're not,"

"Gee, you must be psychic," he muttered sarcastically.

"There's no need to go biting my head off," Desoona announced, tossing her head defiantly. "I could let you starve, Nightwatcher,"

"Aw, come on, you wouldn't do that," Raph chuckled, swinging to his feet.

"I would."

"Prove it."

She stuck her tongue at him and went for a pan.

"Exactly."

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><p>A few minutes later the chicken was in the oven and the pair retreated to the 'dining area' which had been converted to a workout room with the blinds drawn tightly closed so no one could see a young woman sparring with a giant turtle and call animal control or something.<p>

Raph didn't consider himself the best teacher-Master Splinter was obviously a good teacher and Leonardo—as much as he hated to admit was more patient but despite his growls and gruff impatience—or perhaps because of it—Desoona learned quickly. She wasn't a natural but she she tried—evident from the way she bent over backwards to avoid his kick and caught it in her hands before throwing his leg up.

He went off-balance and fell, hit the ground and flipped to his feet in time to get his feet kicked from under him; he swung his leg and knocked her off-balance sending her crashing to the ground.

"He's back for five minutes and _he _says we have to go out for training tomorrow." he grumbled as she moaned, rubbing her side.

"And he came back when?"

""Yesterday."

"Um...he doesn't like procrastination?"

"he's been procrastinating for a _year_! And now he's the 'responsible leader again?"

"Making up for lost time." Desoona suggested, laying on her back and staring up at Raph as he stalked angrily across her floor.

"Who's side are you on?"

"Yours. But I'm trying to make you see pass the righteous anger."

"You're mocking me." Raph accused pointing at her.

"No...okay maybe a little."

The timer dinged and she took the opportunity to avoid his angry gaze and scuttled off to the get the chicken before it burned.

"You've gotten better." Raph offered, reclaiming his place on the couch.

"Thank you, Sensei." she said teasingly dipping a light bow with a tray of chicken in her hands. "Consider this my payment for your lessons. Now come get what you want—I'm not your servant."

Raph rolled his eyes as she set the chicken on the counter and stood; a lone photo, half-hidden under a stapled-together manuscript draft on the side table caught his eye. With a side-long glance at his friend, he picked it up.

It was Desoona at Coney Island covering a giggle as she stood in front of a games booth with a Chinese-American boy at her side, proudly holding up a large elephant in one hand and his free arm around Desoona's shoulder.

"Raph!"

"Coming, Mom." he muttered, sauntering to the kitchen and snagging a plate from the dish rack. "So..."

"What?"

He waved the picture in front her face. "Hot date?"

Desoona flushed furiously and made a grab of it; Raph held it over her head. "Give that back!"

"Who's the guy in the picture?" he leaned away from her and jumped over the counter, still keeping the photo out of her reach. "Come on, little sis—I thought you wanted this back."

"You're so nosy!"

"Well?"

"Since when have you been interested in my love life."

"I seem to recall you complaining about your lack of one..."

"His name is Ishaan if you _must_ know." she snapped, successfully snatching the photo back. "Eat your chicken."

"Yes, Mom."

"Stop calling me that." she retorted.

Slowly, the nightly hours whittled away as they talked about anything that came to mind-Desoona's work, her stories, world events (though this topic was brief) museum new weapon galleries, his brothers, this Ishaan person (a topic Desoona stuttered and blushed through). Talk gave away to sleep, finding Desoona draped across the couch, her head atop a pile of clothes wrapped in a sheet. Raph tucked the Coney Island picture in her much smaller hand, pulling the sheet over her. He found a lone plush animal—a Dalmatian she called Pepper—hiding under the table and stuck that between her and the couch back.

There were times when he envied her—normal life, normal worries. None of this nonsense about leaders and missing older brothers who didn't write.

"I think you help me more than I help you." he whispered.

A moment later, the apartment was still and Raphael was gone.

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><p><em>This thing had been sitting on my drive for MONTHS before I decided to finish it. So yeah. A bit of RaphealOC friendship_

_Review and tell me what you think._


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